March On Stress

‘Thriving at Work’ - March on Stress welcomes new review into mental health

Added on the 26th October 2017

A review commissioned by Prime Minister Theresa May into mental health at work has been published today – Thursday 26 October 2017 – with its findings and recommendations welcomed by March on Stress.

The report contains updated figures on the costs of poor mental health – the cost to the UK economy is staggering at between £74 billion and £99 billion per year.

Professor Neil Greenberg, March on Stress Managing Director, said: “We welcome the report and the spotlight it shines on the cost of poor mental health at work. Helpfully, the report contains a number of recommendations which we hope will be taken on board by government, businesses, and other bodies in support.”

Among its recommendations, the review says that employers should:

• Create a mental health at work plan
• Build mental health awareness by making information and support accessible
• Encourage open conversations
• Provide good working conditions and ensure employees have a healthy work-life balance
• Promote effective people management, with line managers holding regular conversations about health and well-being with their staff
• Routinely monitor employee mental health

Professor Greenberg continued: “We believe that anyone in psychological distress, whether as a result of exposure to potential trauma or the consequence of other (more day-to-day) occupational stressors, deserves access to the right evidence-based support and care in their workplace.

“It is great to see that many of the recommendations to employers are met by the aims and content of StRaW® - our mental health at work training programme.

“We work with lots of great employers already and will continue to work with organisations who want to support their people and business through the provision of expert and evidence-based training and consultancy.”

The review also comes just after a study in Australia which identified that mental health training for managers can have a big effect. This study aimed to investigate the effect of mental health training on managers’ knowledge, attitudes, confidence and behaviour towards employees with mental health problems and its effect on employee sickness absence. It found that a four-hour manager mental health training programme could lead to a ‘significant reduction in work-related sickness absence’.

For more on StRaW training or information on the briefer, management mental health awareness/intervention skills training we offer at March on Stress, please contact us.

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